We could helpfully relate to our Dharma practice as the fashioning and tuning of an instrument of perception. Through practice then, the instrument of our body, heart and mind learns to see, sense and engage in multiple skillful ways.
In this Soulmaking Dharma program we will explore our seeing and sensing not as "revealers of truth" but as "arts" – allowing us to participate in perception in ways that open us to more beauty, dimensionality and many kinds of love. Fashioning our instruments in these ways we can engage in a soulful and enchanted cosmos, one where we are needed, beloved, and woven into a sacred and meaningful story.
This program is for those who have completed a Fall intensive online Soulmaking program with BCBS.
Program Format:
This program will include dharma talks, guided meditation, silent meditation, relational practices, group and individual meetings, and ritual.
A Gathering of Souls:
After the retreat, there will be the possibility of staying on for a two-day sangha gathering, beginning on the evening of Friday, January 17th, and ending with lunch on Sunday, January 19th. This will be a time for sangha members to delight in one another’s company, to connect more deeply as a group of peers, and to explore themes that ignite our souls. The space will be lightly held by several senior sangha members, and there will be opportunities to self-organize spaces of inquiry and practice.
Anyone who attends the retreat is warmly invited and encouraged to stay on for the sangha gathering. There is also a possibility that some people may be able to come to the sangha gathering even if they don’t participate in the retreat, as long as they have previously completed the online Soulmaking Foundations course or an in-person Soulmaking retreat. The sangha gathering will only be able to happen if there is a critical mass of people who want to attend.
The fee for the sangha gathering, which covers two nights at BCBS with meals included, is as follows:
- Tier 1: $418
- Tier 2: $338
- Tier 3: $258
- Benefactor: $578
- Commuter: $160
Financial assistance of up to 50% can be claimed during registration, and further assistance can be requested.
If you apply for the retreat, you will receive information about registering for the Sangha gathering in the email confirming whether you have a place on the retreat. If you are not planning to apply for the retreat but would like to attend the Sangha gathering, please register your interest here, and one of the senior Sangha members will follow up with you.
A note from Catherine:
“Like some of you, I have been grappling with the ethical dimension of Dharma events and carbon-intensive forms of transport that might be involved in traveling to program venues, particularly flying. Whatever you decide about this particular program in terms of travel, I would like to affirm, in the spirit and example of Rob, a rigorous turning towards these questions as a part of our Dharma practice in this era of climate crisis and ecological breakdown.” If you have attended a Fall online program, wanted to come to a Soulmaking program and decided not to for these reasons, please let Catherine know via contact@buddhistinquiry.org subject: Carbon consideration: FAO Catherine
